Susan Poag / The Times-PicayuneAnders Osborne joins Jumpin' Johnny Sansone and John Fohl for an early set at Chickie Wah Wah on Tuesdays. How much music will $20 buy on a Tuesday night in New Orleans? This week, I reminded myself.

At 8 p.m., Anders Osborne, John Fohl and Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone were tangled up in blues on the intimate stage of Chickie Wah Wah. Tucked away across Canal Street from the bus barn, Chickie Wah Wah presents top-notch local music early — sets start at 7 p.m. — in a pleasant, smoke-free environment perfumed by the hearty bar fare produced by the club's kitchen.

Even as he was seated on a chair, Osborne threw his whole body into the jagged/ragged slide guitar runs of “Ash Wednesday Blues,” as Sansone supplied accordion accents. Sansone thumped a tambourine a la the subdudes’ Steve Amedee for Fohl’s “Do Or Die” and goosed his own “You Know Who” with blues harmonica. As his "day gig," Fohl plays guitar in Dr. John’s band. But he’s also a fine singer and songwriter who excels at close-quarters riffing such as this.

As Osborne’s turn came around again — each of the three would sing two songs, then hand off to the next guy — he knocked off the sweet-tempered ballad “Call On Me” and a driving blues called “On the Road to Charlie Parker.” Every Tuesday, the three showcase mostly original material, sometimes springing new compositions on one another. It is Big Easy-style blues at its best.

Cover charge? $8.

Physically, Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, accessed from the Royal Sonesta Hotel’s lobby, is steps away from Bourbon Street. Aesthetically, it is light years away. Classy and elegant, it accommodates enough chatter to make the room feel alive while not overpowering the music.

On Tuesday, drummer Jason Marsalis led a fluent young modern jazz quartet. They opened their 9:30 set with Ornette Coleman’s “When Will the Blues Leave,” a launching pad for an epic, yet not overindulgent, Rex Gregory alto sax solo. The quartet deftly manipulated the bossa nova heart of Joe Henderson’s “Recorda Me.”

In the standard “Star Eyes,” Gregory, pianist Austin Johnson and bassist Peter Harris repeated the same seven-note theme as Marsalis built increasingly complex counterpoints on his snare and tom-toms; he finally resolved into the same theme, a classic, improvised bit of tension and release.

Marsalis’s joy when performing this music is both obvious and contagious. No better modern jazz likely performed anywhere in the world at 10 p.m. on Tuesday.

Cover charge? Free.

Later, outside the Maple Leaf, the late-night crowd spilled onto the spruced up Oak Street as the Rebirth Brass Band kicked into gear. Around 200 people paid the $12 cover to fill the narrow room almost to the back bar. The air was humid and smoky, the audience a mix a college kids, Jazz Fest vets and glowering dudes you'd ordinarily avoid on the street.

The stage generated almost no light, but plenty of sound. Nearly invisible under the faint glow of red Christmas lights, three trumpets, a sax and a trombone formed the high-pitched front line; ambidextrous snare drumming, an incessant bass drum and Rebirth founder Phil Frazier’s rubbery tuba held down the bottom. Rebirth does essentially one thing, but does it well. “I used to love her,” they sang some time past midnight, “but it’s all over now.”